Amended in Assembly March 28, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2242

Introduced by Assembly Member Perea

February 21, 2014

An act to amend Section begin delete 40612 end delete begin insert 44274 end insert of the Health and Safety Code, relating to air pollution.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2242, as amended, Perea. begin delete San Joaquin Valley Clean Air Attainment end delete begin insert Air Quality Improvement end insert Program.

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Existing law establishes the Air Quality Improvement Program that is administered by the State Air Resources Board for the purpose of funding air quality improvement projects. Existing law requires the primary purpose of the program to be the funding of projects to reduce criteria air pollutants, and to improve air quality, and to fund research to determine and improve the air quality impacts of alternative transportation fuels and vehicles, vessels, and equipment technologies.

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This bill additionally would require the program to be focused where the greatest air quality impacts can be identified.

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Existing law establishes the San Joaquin Valley Clean Air Attainment Program for the purpose of the San Joaquin Valley achieving state and federal ambient air quality standards by the earliest practicable date. The program authorizes, in order to provide funding for air pollution control programs, the air pollution control district for that area to increase specified motor vehicle fees and adopt rules and regulations to reduce vehicle trips in order to reduce air pollution from vehicular sources.

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This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to these provisions.

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Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  begin delete no end delete begin insert yes end insert . State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

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begin insert Section 44274 of the end insert begin insert Health and Safety Code end insert begin insert is
amended to read: end insert

44274.  

(a) The Air Quality Improvement Program is hereby
created. The program shall be administered by the state board, in
consultation with the districts. The state board shall develop
guidelines to implement the program. Prior to the adoption of the
guidelines, the state board shall hold at least one public hearing.
In addition, the state board shall hold at least three public
workshops with at least one workshop in northern California, one
in the central valley, and one in southern California. The purpose
of the program shall be to fund, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, air quality improvement projects relating to fuel and
vehicle technologies. The primary purpose of the program shall
be to fund projects to reduce criteria air pollutants, begin insert and to end insert improve
air quality, begin delete and provide funding for end delete begin insert and to fund end insert research to
determine and improve the air quality impacts of alternative
transportation fuels and vehicles, vessels, and equipment
technologies. begin insert The program shall be focused where the greatest air
quality impacts can be identified. end insert

(b) The state board shall provide preference in awarding funding
to those projects with higher benefit-cost scores that maximize the
purposes and goals of the Air Quality Improvement Program. The
state board also may give additional preference based on the
following criteria, as applicable, in funding awards to projects:

(1) Proposed or potential reduction of criteria or toxic air
pollutants.

(2) Contribution to regional air quality improvement.

(3) Ability to promote the use of clean alternative fuels and
vehicle technologies as determined by the state board, in
coordination with the commission.

(4) Ability to achieve climate change benefits in addition to
criteria pollutant or air toxic emissions reductions.

(5) Ability to support market transformation of California’s
vehicle or equipment fleet to utilize low carbon or zero-emission
technologies.

(6) Ability to leverage private capital investments.

(c) The program shall be limited to competitive grants, revolving
loans, loan guarantees, loans, and other appropriate funding
measures that further the purposes of the program. Projects to be
funded shall include only the following:

(1) Onroad and off-road equipment projects that are cost
effective.

(2) Projects that provide mitigation for off-road gasoline exhaust
and evaporative emissions.

(3) Projects that provide research to determine the air quality
impacts of alternative fuels and projects that study the life-cycle
impacts of alternative fuels and conventional fuels, the emissions
of biofuel and advanced reformulated gasoline blends, and air
pollution improvements and control technologies for use with
alternative fuels and vehicles.

(4) Projects that augment the University of California’s
agricultural experiment station and cooperative extension programs
for research to increase sustainable biofuels production and
improve the collection of biomass feedstock.

(5) Incentives for small off-road equipment replacement to
encourage consumers to replace internal combustion engine lawn
and garden equipment.

(6) Incentives for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and
equipment mitigation, including all of the following:

(A) Lower emission schoolbus programs.

(B) Electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid onroad and off-road
medium- and heavy-duty equipment.

(C) Regional air quality improvement and attainment programs
implemented by the state or districts in the most impacted regions
of the state.

(7) Workforce training initiatives related to advanced energy
technology designed to reduce air pollution, including
state-of-the-art equipment and goods, and new processes and
systems. Workforce training initiatives funded shall be broad-based
partnerships that leverage other public and private job training
programs and resources. These partnerships may include, though
are not limited to, employers, labor unions, labor-management
partnerships, community organizations, workforce investment
boards, postsecondary education providers including community
colleges, and economic development agencies.

(8) Incentives to identify and reduce emissions from
high-emitting light-duty vehicles.

(d) (1) Beginning January 1, 2011, the state board shall submit
to the Legislature a biennial report to evaluate the implementation
of the Air Quality Improvement Program established pursuant to
this chapter.

(2) The report shall include all of the following:

(A) A list of projects funded by the Air Quality Improvement
Account.

(B) The expected benefits of the projects in promoting clean,
alternative fuels and vehicle technologies.

(C) Improvement in air quality and public health, greenhouse
gas emissions reductions, and the progress made toward achieving
these benefits.

(D) The impact of the projects in making progress toward
attainment of state and federal air quality standards.

(E) Recommendations for future actions.

(3) The state board may include the information required to be
reported pursuant to paragraph (1) in an existing report to the
Legislature as the state board deems appropriate.

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SECTION 1.  

Section 40612 of the Health and Safety Code is
amended to read:

40612.  

(a) To provide funding for air pollution control
programs needed to achieve and maintain state and federal air
quality, the district may do both of the following:

(1) Notwithstanding the limits on the amount of the motor
vehicle fee specified in Sections 44223 and 44225, increase the
fee established pursuant to these sections to up to, but not
exceeding, thirty dollars ($30) per motor vehicle per year for the
purposes of establishing and implementing incentive-based
programs to achieve surplus emissions reductions that the district
determines are needed to remediate air pollution harms created by
motor vehicles on which the fee is imposed and that are intended
to achieve and maintain state and federal ambient air quality
standards required by the federal Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. Sec.
7401 et seq.). Except for the amount of the fee, any increase shall
be subject to Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 44220) of Part
5, including, but not limited to, the adoption of a resolution
providing for both the fee increase and a corresponding program
for expenditure of the moneys raised by the increased fees for the
reduction of mobile source emissions.

(2) Notwithstanding Section 40717.9, adopt rules and regulations
to reduce vehicle trips in order to reduce air pollution from
vehicular sources.

(b) Fees adopted pursuant to this section are in addition to any
other fees imposed by the district, and may be charged in any of
fiscal years 2009-10 to 2023-24, inclusive. Fees may be assessed
after the 2012-13 fiscal year only if the United States
Environmental Protection Agency approves the district’s proposed
reclassification of its nonattainment status for ozone from severe
to extreme. The fees adopted pursuant to this section are for the
district portion of the total amount needed to achieve and maintain
state and federal ambient air quality standards. At least ten million
dollars ($10,000,000) shall be used to mitigate the impacts of air
pollution on public health and the environment in
disproportionately impacted environmental justice communities
in the San Joaquin Valley. The district board shall convene an
environmental justice advisory committee, selected from a list
given to the board by environmental justice groups from the San
Joaquin Valley, to recommend the neighborhoods in the district
that constitute environmental justice communities, and how to
expend funds within these communities.

(c) (1) The fees adopted pursuant to this section shall become
effective after the state board makes both of the following findings:

(A) The district has undertaken all feasible measures to reduce
nonattainment air pollutants from sources within the district’s
jurisdiction and regulatory control.

(B) The district has notified the state board that fees have been
adopted pursuant to this section and provided the state board with
an estimate of the total funds that will be provided annually by
each of those fees.

(2) The state board shall file a written copy of its findings made
pursuant to this subdivision with the Secretary of State within two
days of its determination.

(3) The fees adopted pursuant to this section shall be collected
nine months after the requirements of paragraph (2) are met.

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